New Town. New Family.

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while so we have a lot to tell you. Since Tuesday, we, Mieke & Ashton, have been staying at Lyla’s house in a little town called Meiser. It’s about 15 minutes from Kafar Qara, where Lyla works as a History teacher and councellor.

When we arrived in Meiser, we were blown away by the beautiful house. Lyla’s husband, Mohammed, is an artist so the house is filled with his works of art. Lyla showed us around and gave us explanations about his pieces. Ashton’s favourite piece is a hungry African child with a big belly. Mieke was stunned by the

Indian shape of the studio entrance. Basically, we both fell in love with the whole house. Mohammed also made a very nice miniature version of the ‘apartheids’wall for the Palestinians and the safety fence

according to the Jewish people.

Once we were in the house, Lyla gave us some time to relax, take a shower etc. which was really nice because it had been a while since we had ‘me-time’. :)

This was the first time we were really confronted with the Palestinian-Israel conflict. It was also the moment we were told Meiser is only 0.5 kilometre away from the green line.

At this moment, we soon began to realise the difference between Syreen’s and Lyla’s family. It seems like a Western family and house wrapped in one with an Arabic ribbon on it. We felt like home. :)

During our first dinner at Lyla’s we tasted her fabulous patato dish which we love till death will do us part. Lyla promised to teach us how to make ‘potatoes a là Lyla’ so we’re not leaving until we have the recipe! From that day on she has been experiencing with the potato dish everyday using us as ginny pigs. But we ain’t complaining!

In the afternoon, Lyla took us to her parents house where her arty sister lives. She showed us around in her studio where she creates pieces made of different coloured glass. Mieke felt like home (again) before she even realised it. Ashton, on the other hand, had a different interest such as the B.E.A.U.tiful pink flowers in the garden. Meanwhile, we had to finish our tea asap to make it in time for Hassan’s English lesson. This was our first meeting with Lyla’s sentence ‘we must go now, ok?’ (leave out the question mark, it was rather an exclamation mark which we soon started to love).

Hassan’s English lesson was really nice because the room and teacher bring out a safe and playful atmosphere which is the main goal of the course. ‘Easy English by Helen Doron’. She wants the children to feel relaxed, safe and happy because this is the ‘best’ way to learn English.

As you have already carefully read, we went to Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Wednesday so we won’t bother you again with these stories.

On to the next! Thursday!

Hassan and Sarah’s (Lyla & Mohammed’s children) elementary school had an English day which we were invited to join. All classes had to prepare an act for the show. The youngest kids sang a really cute song, the older ones prepared an act and there even was a Justin Bieber who performed the song ‘Baby’ acoustic.

When the show was over, we joined the fourth grade to their classroom and did our activity storytelling. We read them the story ‘Oranges for everyone’ which was a success.

In the late afternoon, Lyla dropped us off at Laura’s host family to explore the Kafar Qara’s souk. Even though we were only seperated for one day, we were all very happy to see each other again. While Mieke’s attention was immediately drawn to a comfy pair of trousers, Ashton was off to buy her favourite carrot juice and Laura was treating her new ‘sisters’ to an ice-cream. We’re all fond of nuts so our second stop was the nut stand where we bought our stash for the next - now you would expect the word ‘days’ but in our case it was only one - evening.

Saturday morning has been our favourite day so far. We went ‘askedenia’ fruit picking with Mohammed’s family. It’s a yellow/orange-ish piece of fruit which has the taste of a mango mixed with peach. Very

D.E.L.Icious & our favourite Israelian fruit! It was really cool to see and experience where the fruit trade begins. At 10 o’clock, a fruit salesman came to pick up 10 boxes of fruit to sell at the market. We had a lovely breakfast followed by Lyla’s most amazing & freshly baked chocolate cake.

That moment, we both decided we really want to come back next year for the fruit picking season and started to regret our booked flight back to Belgium. :)

We wanted to end this experience by exploring the fruit plantation + a matching photoshoot + enjoying the ‘askedenia’ fruit to the fullest. It’s not like you can pick and eat them right of a tree everyday. Because unfortunately in Belgium, dear friends, our dear friends don’t exist...

In the evening, we joined Lyla and two of her friends for her nature walk which she does two times a day, three to four days a week. It felt really good to be outside again and inhale the fresh air. What we did not expect to meet was one –or two, we’re still negotiating – dead, run over, mashed snake(s). Pretty distubring, we have to add. After our walk, Mohammed’s sister taught us how to bake the traditional Palestinian (pizza) bread with ‘zatar’. Mm-mm-mm!

In the afternoon, we went to Maisa’s house. She is one of the students of the private school and her mother is a colleague of Lyla’s. They made us lunch and entertained us the whole afternoon. As usual, when we meet a new family, they invited us to stay at their house. We’re really enjoying our time at Lyla’s (+ are kind of tired of moving and adapting etc.) so we felt it was better to turn down their gentle offer.In Kafar Qara, there is a private secondary school, only two years old, wherefore students (actually their parents) pay 5000 shekel per year. This is about 1000 euros a year. Crazy, right? We paid the school a visit and immediately, again, taught English. On Tuesday, they’re having an English day so the teacher invited us to participate in the project.

Well, now that you are totally informed again, we are going to leave you guys to eat popcorn and pay a visit to Maisa’s family farm.

Off we go!

Mieke and Ashton; your two favourite writers (wink wink)